Deutero dipping?: The legitimacy of criteria used to support and refute Pauline authorship of the pastoral epistles

Style

Wood, J. M. B. (2017). Deutero dipping?: The legitimacy of criteria used to support and refute Pauline authorship of the pastoral epistles. Retrieved from https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:2144

Details:

Deutero dipping?: The legitimacy of criteria used to support and refute Pauline authorship of the pastoral epistles

Author

Wood, James Matthew B.

Call Number

LE3 .A278 2017

Date

2017

Supervisor

Zacharias, H. Daniel

Degree Grantor

Acadia University

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Degree Level

Masters

Discipline

Theology

Affiliation

Acadia Divinity College

Abstract

The debate about the authorship of the Pastoral Epistles has reached an impasse because scholars appeal to criteria that can be conformed to their presuppositions about Paul: style and content. Concerning style, there is no consensus in the humanities about what style is, nor is there a standard method for conducting statistical analysis. Instead, expert stylisticians recognize that style varies according to context of situation, age, etc. With respect to content, idealizations of Pauline churches as charismatic and egalitarian societies has led scholars to exaggerate the differences between Paul’s undisputed letters and the Pastoral Epistles, which can be resolved by using Greco-Roman associations as an interpretive model for Pauline statements about leadership structure and the role(s) of women. Thus, these criteria are best omitted from Pauline authorship studies, as they are subject to methodological variables that render them too ambiguous for attribution.

Rights

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